{"id":11337,"date":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/06\/03\/believe-me-shames-the-cops-and-their-system-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","slug":"believe-me-shames-the-cops-and-their-system-reviews-culture-socialist-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/06\/03\/believe-me-shames-the-cops-and-their-system-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"Believe Me shames the cops\u2014and their system Reviews & Culture – Socialist Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"It\n

It exposes their bureaucratic and misogynist \u00adpractices (Pic: Guy Smallman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A total of 105 women are known to have been raped and sexually assaulted by black cab taxi driver John\u202fWorboys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the police had believed the first woman who reported her rape, dozens of those women would have been spared.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Believe Me is a four-part series that tells the story through two women, Sarah and Laila. But this is not about victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is about two women, whose lives, yes, were \u00addamaged by the rapes, but were so angered by not being believed by the police, that they fought back.<\/span><\/p>\n

You feel their pain and their anger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah\u2019s account to the police outlined Worboys\u2019 modus operandi.<\/span><\/p>\n

He would pick up a young woman after a night out, pressure her into drinking a glass of champagne laced with drugs, rape and assault her, then drop her off at the address she had given.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the police had an \u00adalternative narrative.<\/span><\/p>\n

A black cab driver would never risk his job by drugging and raping a woman in his own cab, they said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead they insisted that Sarah and Laila had both drunk too much, didn\u2019t remember what \u00adhappened and had sex with someone else. They said that the drugs in their system weren\u2019t the typical rape drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

They would do anything but believe the women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, the police arrested Worboys and he was given an \u00adindeterminate \u00adsentence with an 8-year \u00adminimum term. That\u2019s when Sarah and Laila decided to take the police to court under the Human Rights Act for infringing their right not to be subject to inhuman or \u00addegrading treatment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This led to the disclosure of further evidence of police \u00adnegligence. Sarah and Laila established the right to use the Human Rights Act as a basis for legal action against the police.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n \"On <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
Police refusal to address violence against women leads to a mother\u2019s murder<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span> Read More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Worboys was intent on getting out. He changed his name to John Radford and turned to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having insisted on his \u00adinnocence, he then \u201c\u00adconfessed\u201d and conjured up an explanation for his attacks. He eventually convinced the parole board and got a date for his release.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah and Laila fought back, supported by Carrie Symonds, herself one of Worboys\u2019 victims.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their dedicated legal team exposed the holes in Worboys\u2019 story and the parole board\u2019s \u00addecision was overturned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Believe Me conveys Sarah and Laila\u2019s trauma and the impact on their lives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Above all, it exposes the bureaucratic and misogynist \u00adpractices of the police.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They don\u2019t think it is always \u201c\u00adpractical\u201d to apply their own guidelines that the \u00adstarting point is to \u201cbelieve the woman\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easier to clear up a \u00adburglary than pursue a rapist. Believe Me is a difficult watch, but it is well worth it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n